Dhuska | Deep Fried Pancake from Jharkhand

Dhuska is a deep fried pancake from Jharkhand and Bihar. The batter is made of raw rice, Urad dal and chana dal. It can be spiced with vegetables to make it more filling.

While Dhuska or Dhooska has become popular over the net because of our earlier marathon, I remember talking to my Bihari Colleague about the popular dishes from her state and she used to talk about this one. This is mostly paired with Ghugni and can also be served as a snack.

Dhuska is always deep fried, similar to the Vellai Appam from Chettinad. In fact, I almost felt the recipe proportion to be the same, except for adding chana dal to Dhuska. Since I always feel we must at least make the dish the way it is supposed to be, I went ahead deep frying it. Only difference is, I used appachatti and little more of oil than what I would use on a tawa. It turned out so well, and I almost felt I had deep fried it.

I paired it with a kurma and the spongy pancake soaked up the kurma well. I didn’t remember what my colleague said about her recipe, I instead checked out Priya Sri’s recipe and adapted form it.

This is a no ferment dosa as all you need to remember is to soak the rice and dal overnight and grind it for breakfast.

When I talk about this batter, I can but remember the adventure I had last week when I had planned to make about 8 different fermented and no ferment versions. As I have mentioned before, I always discuss these plans with Amma and she helped me with this. I said I could soak a huge batch of Raw Rice and Urad Dal, apart from Moong dal and Chana Dal that’s required in varying proportions.

On the day we ground the batter, my fridge was filled with just these batters. I had a huge list written down on what’s fermented and what’s not! Then when I started making it, I had to go in one order with clicking and noting down how much each has to be mixed.

While I always think I must plan ahead and be on time with cooking etc, I can never seem to do and this cooking together, calculating things makes me feel I am scientist in my kitchen. What’s more important and satisfying is the results that turn out.

I only offerent couple of dishes from the list to Hubby dear, while few were sent to Parents for their dinner. Out of the rest of the varieties, Peddu and Konda helped in sharing their thoughts. Konda was saying I should not be making so many at the same time as its not letting her enjoy one version. I said I can redo the dish she liked the best later again.

If you are planning to make this for breakfast, you can soak it overnight and grind this before making it for breakfast.

Before grinding, drain the excess water from the rice and dal. Take it together with chilies and coriander leaves and grind to a fine batter using little water. The batter should be smooth and well done.

Transfer the batter to another bowl. Add green peas and chopped onions, salt and mix well. Heat a shallow pan or an appachatti with 2 tsp of oil. Add more if required.

When it is hot, take half a ladle of batter and pour it in the center. Wait until the edges starts to brown, slowly flip the dhuska to other side and cook until it browns.

Remove it to a serving plate and serve warm with any chutney or gravy.

Notes
Traditionally the dhuskas are deep-fried. You can also make these as normal Dosas on tawa, making it in appachatti, almost gives a deep fried effect.
This batter needs to be used up right away before it gets fermented. If you are not going to use right away, then refrigerate the batter for later use.

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Dhuska | Deep Fried Pancake from Jharkhand

Dhuska is a deep fried pancake from Jharkhand and Bihar. The batter is made of raw rice, Urad dal and chana dal. It can be spiced with vegetables to make it more filling.

If you are planning to make this for breakfast, you can soak it overnight and grind this before making it for breakfast.

Before grinding, drain the excess water from the rice and dal. Take it together with chilies and coriander leaves and grind to a fine batter using little water. The batter should be smooth and well done.

Transfer the batter to another bowl. Add green peas and chopped onions, salt and mix well. Heat a shallow pan or an appachatti with 2 tsp of oil. Add more if required.

When it is hot, take half a ladle of batter and pour it in the center. Wait until the edges starts to brown, slowly flip the dhuska to other side and cook until it browns.

Remove it to a serving plate and serve warm with Dhaniya chutney/ Coriander chutney.

Recipe Notes

Traditionally the dhuskas are deep-fried. You can also make these as normal Dosas on tawa, making it in appachatti, almost gives a deep fried effect. This batter needs to be used up right away before it gets fermented. If you are not going to use right away, then refrigerate the batter for later use.

12 comments

Excellent dhuska, It looks absolutely fantastic..it definitely looks deep fried and totally yum. The texture is so good too. I had made it long back for one of the mega BM.but this looks amazing.
I wonder how you manage so many dishes at one go..really hats off !

I do remember making dushka for a previous mega BM and it was wonderful. I felt that it was more like the thavala vadai but flatter in shape. I don’t know how you manage to do such huge work in a single day. With two or three recipes I become so confused. That is why I stuck to making one dish a day this month. Kudos to you Valli..

Oh my God! Deep fried dosai sounds blissful….I also have some soaked rice & lentils ….so I have to try this at the earliest. Even I had a tough time with various batters in the fridge and I had to stick notes on them to remember which is which. Mega BMs are so crazy and fun!!

The dhuska looks so inviting Srivalli. And agree with Konda. My kids say the same when I plan to make several dishes on the same day! Actually I click the SBS process together and all the finished dishes after that.Sometimes, I have to sit and think which process belongs to which dish and my daughter helps my identify it as she keeps hovering around when I click!As for repeating the favorite dishes, I guess that rarely happens here.

The popular Jharkhand breakfast dish looks very delicious. I recently made dhuska for another blogging group and we loved it. Its amazing how a bit of chana dal and rice can turn this into a wonderful pancake like flatbread used to mop up ghughni.

I recently made Dhuska and it was yum, however my recipe was a bit different and I made the pancake version too. Loved your way of cooking one big dhuska. And your daughter is so cute and so right in telling that as she is not able to enjoy to her fullest one dish 🙂